João Pedro Gonçalves Neves (; born 27 September 2004), is a Portuguese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club Benfica and the Portugal national team. Coming through Benfica's youth system, Neves impressed during his time with the reserve side, winning the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

in 2021–22, being instrumental part of Benfica's first European trophy in 60 years. He was promoted to the first-team shortly after, making his professional debut at age 18, where he helped Benfica win the league title in his first season with them. Neves is a former Portugal youth international, representing his country at various levels. He made his senior international debut in 2023, at 19 years old.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Tavira Tavira () is a Portuguese town and municipality, capital of the ''Costa do Acantilado'', situated in the east of the Algarve on the south coast of Portugal. It is east of Faro and west of Huelva across the river Guadiana into Spain. The Gilão ...

, Neves began his youth career with hometown club Casa Benfica Tavira, one of Benfica's feeder clubs, for four seasons, where his father worked as a coach, before moving to his boyhood club Benfica's youth academy in 2012. Neves signed his first professional contract with Benfica in December 2020.

Benfica

Neves played a major role in the

2021–22 UEFA Youth League The 2021–22 UEFA Youth League was the eighth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club association football, football competition organised by UEFA. Real Madrid CF (youth), Real Madrid, having won the title in 2019–20 UEFA Youth ...

, where Benfica U19 topped their

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against

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. In the final, he helped his side defeat Red Bull Salzburg 6–0 to help Benfica win their first Youth League title, and their first title in European football since the

1961–62 European Cup The 1961–62 European Cup was the seventh season of the European Cup. The competition was won by Benfica for the second time in a row, beating Real Madrid 5–3 in the final at the Olympisch Stadion in Amsterdam. Malta entered its champion fo ...

. He made his professional debut with Benfica B in a 1–1 LigaPro draw to Académico de Viseu on 6 August 2022. On 24 August, Neves started in Benfica's 1–0 against

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

at the 2022 Under-20 Intercontinental Cup. Following the departure of Enzo Fernández in January 2023, he began training with the first team, after impressing newly arrived coach Roger Schmidt, making his debut in 3–0 loss to

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

in the

. The following day, Neves made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

debut, replacing João Mário in the 74th minute and providing an assist on Benfica's fifth goal, in their 5–1 home win against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in the second leg of the Champions League round-of-16. In the final months of the season, Neves eventually earned a place in the starting eleven over

Florentino Luís Florentino Ibrain Morris Luís (born 19 August 1999), known as Florentino (), is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Primeira Liga club Benfica as a defensive midfielder. Coming through Benfica's youth system, he began playing ...

, most notably scoring his first goal for the club on 21 May against crosstown rivals

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

in the

Derby de Lisboa The Derby de Lisboa or Dérbi de Lisboa (English: Lisbon derby) is a football derby match in Portugal. It is played between Lisbon clubs Benfica and Sporting CP, two of the most decorated clubs in Portugal. The rivalry originated in 1907 when e ...

, securing his side a draw after they were down by two goals at half-time. He would make 20 appearances for Benfica as they sealed their first league title in four years, following a 3–0 home win over Santa Clara, on the final day of the league campaign. In the 2023–24 season, on 12 November 2023, Neves scored the 94th minute equalizer in an eventual 2–1 league victory over rivals Sporting CP, at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, its ...

; while also receiving the

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award.

International career

Neves represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at under-15 and under-19, for a total of 21

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. In June 2023, Neves took part in the

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2023) will be the 24th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (27th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ...

, scoring his first goal on 27 June in a 2–1 against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Portugal were eliminated from the tournament, on 2 July, after a 1–0 loss to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the quarter-finals. On 6 October 2023, Neves was called up to the senior team for the first time for

Euro 2024 qualifiers The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament is an upcoming football competition that will be played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that will join the automatically qualified host team Germany in ...

matches against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. He made his senior international debut on 16 October, coming off the bench to replace

Otávio Otávio is a Portuguese masculine given name, the equivalent of English Octavian, Octavius or Italian Ottavio. The Portuguese long form Octávio occurs more rarely. The Portuguese diminutive form is Otavinho. Given name *Otávio (footballer, born ...

in the 85th minute of a 5–0 away victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Style of play

A footballer praised for his mature, highly developed mental attributes on the field since a young age, João Neves is a quick, agile and technically gifted central midfielder, with notable passing and tackling skills, quick reactions, and close ball control. He is also known for his stamina, bravery and composure on the ball, as well as for his balance and the ability to retain possession in tight spaces when under pressure. In addition, despite his relatively slight frame, he ranks high on the percentile for aerial battles won.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Benfica Youth *

Campeonato Nacional de Juniores The Campeonato Nacional de Juniores is the top level of the Portuguese football league system for youth players (19-year-old and under). It is administrated by the Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, F ...

: 2021–22 *

Under-20 Intercontinental Cup The Under-20 Intercontinental Cup ( es, Sub-20 Intercontinental, pt, Intercontinental de Sub-20) is a football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. The match is contested by the winners of the South American and European youth club competitions ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Benfica *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *

Midfielder of the Month: September 2023, October/November 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the S.L. Benfica website {{DEFAULTSORT:Neves, Joao 2004 births Living people People from Tavira Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Footballers from Faro District Men's association football midfielders Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers